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Flyboy Dave posted a grid reference to some of his mtb-riding friends (S 28 11 14.68 E 153 05 46.06) with the invitation to meet him there on Sunday night for a camp out, and ride back to whence one came, the next day.

I plugged the grid reference into Google Maps, and then into Ride With GPS. It was at the top of Duck Creek Road, which is a dirt road back way from Beaudesert to O’Reillys.

Even though I had never been on that road, the idea sounded pretty good to me.

There’s a difference, though, between the idea of a bike ride, and the ride itself.

I know this VERY well. And I also know that every time I plan an adventurous ride, there will be some moments on that ride where I hate it, and can’t imagine why on earth I ever thought it would be a good idea to do this particular thing.

To get to Duck Creek Road, I started at Beaudesert. After a busy (& fun) weekend of church, family and social engagements, I left home around 3.15pm, and started riding from Jubilee Park at Beauey a little after 4.30pm.

With the sun scheduled to cease providing illumination in our part of world a little before 6pm, I knew there was no way I would ride 35km to the rendezvous spot in daylight. But luckily for me, Dave was in the same situation.

Dave left home even later than me, parked his car at Beaudesert as well, and caught me just at the start of the big climb.

Have I mentioned that Dave is really fit at the moment, because he is training for the Tour Divide, one of the most gruelling off-road races IN THE WORLD.

The sun set. A half-moon provided enough light to walk the bike. At riding pace I had a headlight.

We rode & walked the climb together. That is, when it got too steep for me to ride, I got off and walked, and Dave waited for me at the next natural re-group point.

By this method we climbed about 540 metres of vertical in 7 km. That is one of the harder dirt-road climbs in SEQ. I had some bad moments, and some better moments.

We arrived at the best lookout on Duck Creek Road about 7.45 pm. By the half-moon’s light, we could see over the valleys to the south and west, back down to Kerry, and the headwaters of the Albert River, and down to Duck Creek.

It was a spectacular view even when I couldn’t see it. It was better still the next morning.

The view from Duck Creek Road.

Only a short further climb was required to find our camping spot, which had a sensational view to the north.

Dave set up his swish new Tarptent, I rolled out my shelterless setup (groundsheet, air mattress, sleeping bag). I had a bivvy bag in reserve, but if it had rained, I would have been quite uncomfortable. And wet.

Fortunately for me, the weather stayed fine. There was some food, some chat, followed by some snoring. The next morning, some packing up, and then some more riding!

So here’s Episode 8 of the Briztreadley podcast for 2015. And just in time, because there’s some time-specific information in this edition.

On Saturday 28 Feb, 4pm, there’s a Chickspiration event that will help fund Janine Jungfels’ UCI Trials World Cup campaign this year. Listen to Jordy and Andrew talk it up, and of course you’re going to go, or at least donate!

She Rides is a great encouragement and skills program for women, organised nationally by Cycling Australia. We talk to Vickie Burr from Redlands about her experience with the pilot program, and why it’s a great way to get more women into this male-dominated activity. Registrations close Sunday 1 March for the current series of programs, so act now!

Mountain bike orienteering … there really can’t be anything more likely to lead to family fun on a bike than that! Ideal for father-son bonding, or mother-daughter, father-daughter, mother-son, sister-brother, or even people who aren’t related to each other. We talk to Craig Steffens about an event coming up on Saturday 14th March. Check it out, it’s FREE.

And lastly we talk to Mark Fenner about Today’s Plan, and Andrew no longer has any excuse for failing to score points in B-grade in the Queensland Cyclocross series this year. Affordable training plans tailored to your needs! How could it go wrong?

Episode 6 of the Briztreadley podcast has interviews and our musing on just the one topic: Where or what is “Velotopia”?

Groningen in the Netherlands … as close to Velotopia as we can find at the moment! Pic from Streetfilms.

Dr Steven Fleming has written about his idea of Velotopia on his blog, Behooving Moving. Dr Fleming and his collaborator Prof Angelina Russo held a workshop at the Queensland Museum in early February. Briztreadley’s Andrew Demack was there in his capacity as the Development Officer for Bicycle Queensland.

As more information becomes available from this workshop, I will post it here on the Briztreadley blog.

Let’s workshop this idea.

Plus there’s a little bit of follow-up news from the Oceania road-racing championships as well.

And speaking of practicing, we’re recording the next podcast tonight, so it should be nestled in your iPhone (other smartphones are available) sometime late Thursday night.

In this episode:

NEWS! Follow-ups from previous episodes!

The Hour Record

The Herald Sun Tour

Interviews with cyclocrossers Lindsay Gorrell and Garry Milburn who paid their own way to race for Australia at the World CX Champs in Tabor, Czech Republic. Massive effort!

And so much more, we have big ideas and we’re not afraid to put them out there! Practice practice practice, and we’ll make a better podcast with more listeners. Practice practice practice for our good friend Emma, and as Brad Norman says “BIKES FOR EVERYONE!”

UPDATE: OK, it’s all gone a bit wrong tonight, so we won’t be posting a Briztreadley podcast by Thursday evening. Looks like we will record a weekend special!

Full gas around the superb berms at the Pemberton mtb park, the WA rounds of the national cross-country mountain bike series. Pic courtesy of Mike Blewitt, AMB.

And for Episode 4 of the Briztreadley podcast, we get some real expertise on board.

First we chat to the editor of Australian Mountain Bike magazine, Mike Blewitt, about the high standard of racing at the recent WA rounds of the national cross-country mountain bike series. With heaps of young talent coming through the ranks in both mens and womens fields, the future looks bright for cross-country in this country. And there’s a new stage race in WA as well, the 2 Oceans event.

And then we metaphorically jet off to Europe with the members of Australia’s team for the World Cyclocross Championships this coming weekend in Tabor, in the Czech Republic. Sean Couley, from Australian Cyclocross Magazine previews the Worlds, with a wide-open battle in the womens race, and the duel of the break-out youngsters in the mens.

When should I ride my bike? If I start at 4.30 am, when it is surely light enough, I have to go to bed at 8.30pm to get sufficient sleep. If I go to bed before 10pm so I can start at 6 am, I’m a stinking sweaty mess by 7.30.

The afternoons aren’t much better … if the storm doesn’t come then its still 30 degrees at 5pm.

Well, of course the answer is that you should ride your bike at night.

That was the reasoning behind last Friday night’s CX social ride from Stones Corner up to Toohey Forest and back. And we had nearly the perfect combination of post-storm drizzle and nicely damped-down forest trails. It was great fun, and nobody did any lasting damage to themselves or their bikes. The rain was a blessing in disguise, because the Facebook event had 31 people who said they were going. In the end we had less than half that number. Which was plenty to keep track of in the forest at night!

Night riding is such a fun thing to do in summer. And you can make it into a micro-adventure by including a camp-out at the end. Or you can finish as we did on Friday night at a bar or a cafe.

Or, you can just ride through the night somewhere away from the traffic and the city. I couldn’t fit the Midnight Century into my schedule this year, so I’m going to have to come up with my own version. Stay tuned for crazy ideas.

Road-riders, my advice is to pick up one of these at your local bike shop. It’s the best accessory for a rainy summer, other than having two pairs of shoes, so you can have one pair drying out in between rainy rides.

After 10 years (approx) in bicycle advocacy, I am convinced of just a few things …

1. People who say “it can’t happen here because [insert short-sighted reason]” are often well-meaning, but wrong. Brisbane can become a great place to ride a bike, if we (by which I mean citizens influencing the State Government and City Council) make decisions over the next few years which prioritise walking and cycling over other modes of transport.

2. That reliance on “the market” and private developers and infrastructure built by PPPs (public-private partnerships) leads to a business-as-usual outcome, which repeats the car-biased transport and land-use planning mistakes of the past 50 years.

3. That “density done right” is a massive factor towards building a better city to ride and walk around. Land use planning and transport planning are so intertwined that we must never again do one without the other.

My friend Greg Vann makes the point (which I absolutely agree with) that everyone is seeking amenity, and that the concept of what urban amenity is, is changing. And that’s a good thing.

Greg says that good planning leads to a better city to live in, and I think nobody disputes that. But it requires long-term thinking by political leaders, and making decisions which lead to changes in our urban landscape. And change can be tricky.

The best thing a city can do is elect a planner as Mayor. Which happened in Adelaide (Stephen Yarwood), and they were starting to get some great changes that will lead to Adelaide being a better place to walk and ride, and therefore a better place to live. Awesome!

The solution? Well as far as I can see, it is to have as many people as possible who are interested in building walkable and rideable cities keep on being engaged in public debate and discussion. And maybe planners encouraging other planners to stand for office.